Stephanie Harrington
Dame Stephanie Harrington, OM was a Manticoran citizen and the first human to be adopted by a Sphinxian treecat. She was also the one who gave the treecat species its name. Biography Stephanie was born on the planet Meyerdahl on January 7, 1507 PD, the only child of Richard Harrington and his wife Marjorie. She was extremely intelligent, her test scores placing her squarely in the top per mil of the entire human race. Her family originally lived in the city of Hollister on Meyerdahl, but migrated to the Star Kingdom of Manticore aboard the transport ship Madeleine Davenport, arriving on Sphinx in 1517 PD. At the age of eleven T-years, she was the one who figured out how to obtain images of whatever was stealing celery from various farms and greenhouses from all over Sphinx. Climbs Quickly, a treecat of the Bright Water Clan, became fascinated with her and her mind-glow. He came to her assistance when she broke her left arm and severely injured her right leg in a hang-gliding crash, even protecting her from a hexapuma. When he was grievously wounded, Stephanie defended him and mortally wounded the hexapuma with a vibro-knife. After the incident, her father came to her rescue and she took Climbs Quickly with them to be treated. Neither knew then that their experience would later become known as bonding. Thus, she became the first human ever adopted by a treecat. ( , ) Stephanie named the treecat Lionheart. The treecats, in turn named her "Death Fang's Bane", Death Fang being their name for hexapumas. She joined the Sphinx Forestry Service – which was no great shakes at the time – at the age of seventeen and almost singlehandedly reorganized it into one of the finest eco-management organizations in their sector of the galaxy. She eventually rose to the rank of Brigadier General and was awarded the Order of Merit, but declined the Order of the Star Kingdom. Simmons wrote a biography of her named Trailblazer of Dreams, and Tsukie Akimoto painted a well-known portrait of her and Lionheart. She was the driving force behind the passage of the Ninth Amendment of the Manticoran Constitution in 1568 PD.According to her descendant Honor Harrington, she was the primary author of the amendment. The amendment recognized treecats as sentient beings – with minor child legal status – on all three of the Star Kingdom's worlds. According to General MacClintock, she was the youngest person to ever discover an alien sentient species, and the 'only' person to face an attacking hexapuma armed only with a vibro-belt knife and survive. Stephanie Harrington retained her maiden name when she was married, and had six children, two of which were also adopted by treecats. In fact, her descendants had a higher percentage of treecat adoptions than any other family. According to Sings Truly, Stephanie lived between seventeen and eighteen "turnings" (Sphinxian years) after her adoption, which would suggest that she lived a little over a hundred T-years, a long life indeed in a pre-prolong society. Upon her death, typical of bonded treecats who had lost their companions, Lionheart died by suicide. ( , , ) Legacy Dame Stephanie was a direct ancestor of Honor Harrington, who knew of the story of how she and Lionheart met, and also continued the tradition of keeping the true intelligence of the treecats a secret. ( ) She was pictured with Lionheart on her shoulder in Tsukie Akimoto's famous portrait of the pair. ( ) Service Record Promotions * Probationary Ranger * Brigadier General Decorations * Order of Merit References Harrington, Stephanie Harrington, Stephanie Harrington, Stephanie Category:Harrington Clan Harrington, Stephanie Harrington, Stephanie Harrington, Stephanie Harrington, Stephanie